Edu_RSS
BloxPress: A Modular Ajax Wordpress Theme
I've just noticed the BloxPress demo. Bloxpress seems to be an in-progress, Ajax-developed Wordpress theme with a few neat features. As the site states: - You can drag everything around by clicking on the block title. - You can add RSS, Flickr and more by clicking on oeAdd / Remove Content at the top - You can [...] From
Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on November 15, 2005 at 9:57 p.m..
Tape It Off The Internet
On my last post re: BloxPress, Rob Wall noted that the design was definitely buzzword-compliant. Now, I just noticed Tioti.com (Tape It Off The Internet) via Digg which is apparently an almost-to-be-released service which features a global TV guide married with the Bit Torrent protocol and "an innovative social layer". And of course, it features [...] From
Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on November 15, 2005 at 9:57 p.m..
James T. Kirk
I noticed this meme on D'Arcy Norman's site. So, I guess I am described as: .. an impassioned commander with more respect for individuals than for authority, you have a no-holds-barred approach to life and its obstacles. I don't believe in the no-win scenario. Hmmm ... I'm liking Bruce Boxleitner and Jean Luc, but I'm not sure what [...] From
Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on November 15, 2005 at 9:57 p.m..
“This is an Announcement from the Emergency Feedcast System…”
CORRECTION AND UPDATE When I wrote the article below, I forgot something pretty important: Even though, from the user's perspective, feeds generally behave like "push media," in fact they are not push media. This pretty much undermines the point of this article. See my Nov. 11 followup article which explores the issue of feeds and push media. Some good came of this, after all. :-) For the record, here's my original article... From
Contentious Weblog on November 15, 2005 at 9:57 p.m..
Tricky Concept: Feeds Aren’t Really “Push”
Yesterday I wrote about how feeds might play a role in emergency communication. I'll admit, I thought I had a pretty good idea there. Well, I do have lots of good ideas, but that doesn't mean I don't occasionally miss something – but then, everyone does, so there's no shame in that. Fortunately, one beauty of weblogs is that this type of publishing makes it very easy to correct errors or omissions, continue a line of thought, or just plain change your mind. I know that admitting or correcting errors is scary to some folks, so here I'm giving an example of how e From
Contentious Weblog on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Media and Violence: Looking Back at Rwanda, from France
On Nov. 9, the International Herald-Tribune reported that French police have "arrested three people for comments on the online diaries known as blogs that are hosted by Skyblog. The site belongs to the nationwide radio station Skyrock, which has four million listeners daily and claims the largest audience of any radio station among 13-to-24-year-olds." The article continues: "Those prosecuted for inciting violence in their postings this week included a 14-year-old from Aix-en-Provence who called on rioters to attack police stations, according to Justice Minister Pascal Clément. Blog entries From
Contentious Weblog on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Tips for Serious Blogs (Professional or Organizational)
Tomorrow at 11:30 AM MST I'll be giving a short talk at a meeting of the Boulder Press Club. This will be held at the Broker Inn in Boulder, CO. (If you'd like to attend, see the end of this message.) My topic is: What Writers Really Need to Know About Weblogs. Actually, I'd originally aimed it at journalists, until I learned that most of the BPC's members are not journalists, but rather writers and editors of various persuasions. I will be recording this talk, and if the audio quality is good enough I'll podcast it. I'll only have about 1/2 hour so I plan to g From
Contentious Weblog on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Digital Divide Statistics
"A gap remains between users and nonusers or between 'haves' and 'have-nots'," according to Eurostat, the European Uniion's statistics agency. The survey found that 85 percent of school or university students aged 16 to 24 used the Internet, while only... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Stephen Downes presentation
Diversity comes when individuals in the network make their decisions autonomously " no one tells them what to do. They do so in the context of the network, and their actions have impacts upon those networks (interwoven) " learning is... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Bloggin Jargon
It took readers to point out the obvious to me. I wrote a post denouncing jargon and dared to include this sentence in it: Jargon is like proprietary software in a world moving toward open-source. Blogs breed Jargon... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Google to offer web traffic analysis services
Google has officially launched Analytics, a robust new web analysis system that provides site owners with traffic metrics and massive amounts of useful marketing data. Based on technology originally developed by a Californian company called Urchin that Google acquired in... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
As Blogging Matures (A Bit) ...
Much has been written over the last several years about blogging, and no doubt much more will be written. Indeed, there was a bit of a fashion circulating several months or a year or so ago in which many bloggers... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Forbes "Attack of the Blogs"
There are almost predictable stages, phases, plateaus in the ongoing sweep of significant transformation of a social, economic and political landscape occasioned by the introduction and uptake of revolutionizing technology and the sociology that grows as the technology's use takes... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Quote of the day
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. Malcolm Forbes, in Forbes Magazine US art collector, author, & publisher (1919 - 1990)... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Day 7: Flavour of the week
The following is from my journal from our wedding trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for Thursday, Sept. 29th: With my duties as groom complete, today was a quiet day. Silverlotus and I met with the photographer. Armed with an Apple 17" iBook, the photog let us pick which photos to print out. So we did. And then Woofer and Aunt F showed up to look at the photos. Then Silverlotus's parents came by to take a look. Then JK and Michelle showed up... Basically it took us ninety minutes to look at 60 pictures. Woofer and Aunt F went on a canopy tour, zipping on foxlines among the tall leafy trees. From
silentblue | Quantified on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Day 8: It was criminal to wake up that early
The following is from my journal from our wedding trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for Friday, Sept. 30th. We will resume regular scheduled programming shortly: Last day in the hot, hot sun. Woke up absurdly early with Woofer and V to catch shots of the sunrise. I got a few good shots, and a few more bug bites to add to my collection (Aside: They're not mosquito bites, and they are extremely itchy). Tried my hand at the air rifle range, and I've decided to never make Woofer cross because he's a bloody crack shot. For the first time the entire trip, the water was cold and the surf From
silentblue | Quantified on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Gaming News
My globe trotting ways have put a damper on my game plays, but I've had a chance to sneak some game time behind the PS2 and PC. Thanks to a new SATA hard drive, I've been mostly going through the gauntlet of entertaining demos, such as Fahrenheit (different), Total Overdose (funky), Serious Sam II (it's hard, still haven't finished it), and Need for Speed: Most Wanted (cops and customization?! yay). In the PlayStation: We Love Katamari. In a market that has a dozen shooting games, a hundred sport franchises, and a thousand regurgitated sequels of both, Katamari Damacy stand From
silentblue | Quantified on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Toronto to Sudbury to Chapleau to Timmins and back
This week, I have been traipsing around up in northern Ontario on a business trip. We're bringing wireless broadband and next-generation IP applications to the small logging town of Chapleau. It's a really nice, small community, the people are friendly, and the poutine is probably the best I've had in the province. One thing is also gets is snow, and a heavy weather forced our 15-seat chartered turboprop to land in the small Sudbury airport for the night. We had a nice square meal at a place called Mr. Prime Rib, and headed out the next morning. I apparently fixed Sudbury airpor From
silentblue | Quantified on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Breaking News Won't Wait
Hurray! An IBM plant near Boulder, Colorado (where I live), had a chemical accident this morning resulting in a gas cloud being released; local roads were closed and plant workers were evacuated. ... No, I'm not cheering the accident. I'm cheering that all the major local newspapers' websites had news about this posted this morning. There were stories online at the websites of the
Denver Post,
Rocky Mountain NewsPoynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
U.K. Journalists Union Considers Citizen Journalists
Today the U.K. news-industry trade publication
Press Gazette reports that the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is proposing a new Code of Practice to cover "citizen journalists." The article says: "Mike Holderness, from the London Freelance Branch of the NUJ, said many union activists would rather call them 'citizen witnesses.' He added: 'The whole point, after all, is that we're increasingly dealing with reports and pictures from people who are not jou From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Podcast Updates for Breaking News
As my fellow Boulderite Steve Outing
mentioned here yesterday, there was a chemical leak northeast of Boulder (Colorado). I agree with Steve: It's great that several local papers immediately posted stories about the emergency to their websites. However, I didn't learn of this leak until I read Steve's blog posting. Now, I did listen to local news on the radio around 7 a.m. yesterday, but by 8 a.m. I was working. The leak started at 8 a.m., and residents within a two-mile radius of the site were w From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
(Mostly Nameless) Smiling Faces of the ONA
The Online News Association annual conference was held late last month, and while I didn't get to attend this year, at least I can see who did on Yahoo!'s photo-sharing service,
Flickr. There's an ONA
conference photo pool with more than 300 photos taken at the event. Alas, you'll need to be well-connected and have a good memory for names, since the photos do not include captions. With Flickr, though, anyone can post a comment to a photo. So some people have begun adding com From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Digital Journalism Summit in Chile
The
Third Latin American Digital Journalism Congress, organized by
Universidad Diego Portales, began today in Santiago, Chile. Among the issues addressed at this two-day seminar, there are tracks about the role of digital editors, the future of online media, new trends on digital advertising, and, of course, what's happening with weblogs and digital journalism. From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Profile Networking Drives Boom in Bakersfield
According to one myth circulating on the Internet,
Myspace.com is bigger than
Google. That doesn't entirely stand up to close examination (especially on key topics such as revenue), but like many myths, it reflects an important underlying truth. Myspace.com has discovered a way to connect people that just plain sizzles, especially with teens and young adults. The idea is simple: You start with a profile page where you tell the world about yourself, then add links to your friends. Throw in some pictures, some From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
TimesSelect: Wrong Content Targeted for Fee?
Having written about
TimesSelect, the New York Times' premium-content website service that put the paper's popular op-ed columnists behind a pay subscription wall, I continue to get e-mails from people commenting on it. (Rough guess: about 9-to-1 against.) Stephen Miller is one of those correspondents who thinks it's a bad idea, and he points out that he's removed links to the columnists from his news and politics website,
DVMX.com. "I regret that we From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
New Jobs for Journalists, Marketers
Backfence, a start-up building "hyperlocal citizens media" websites starting in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, has just posted its first
job openings since receiving venture capital
funding. The company is looking for a community manager and a content manager for the Washington area. Mark Potts, one of the company's founders, said more jobs will be posted as the com From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on November 15, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Has your Grandmother got any Grandchildren?
Today I attended Oxford Day 2005 (Seoul) where Michael Swan and Henry Widdowson presented. Swan presented first, followed by a promotional presentation for person to person (which I skipped) and Widdowson presented last followed by a Q&A session. Both presenters were engaging speakers with a good presence on the stage. Swans presentation was the more practical of the two while Widdowsons presentation was more theoretical. On my way to the subway I heard two teachers talking about how Widdowson was interesting but if they wanted theory they would buy a book - clearly they didn't particula From
Language, teaching, and all things EFL on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Virtual Teams: Which Road To Effective Collaboration?
Over the last ten years organisational teams have become more distributed and complex. Despite the number of technologies available to assist teams and group-based work, it is still exceedingly difficult to manage teams. Photo credit: ChangeThis And contrary to popular... From
Kolabora.com on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Instant Messenger With VoIP, SMS, eMail, RSS: Wavigo
Wavigo is a free multi-protocol real-time communication software centered around a strong IM and VoIP core. In a single application Wavigo brings together IM, VoIP, SMS, RSS, email, podcasting and file sharing. Wavigo supports MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, AIM... From
Kolabora.com on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Young Canadians in a Wired World (YCWW) national research project
Ottawa, November 7, 2005 " Young Canadians are more connected than ever and at a surprisingly early age, seeking new ways to optimize the InternetTMs social and educational opportunities, according to new research released today by Media Awareness Network (MNet). The Young Canadians in a Wired World (YCWW) national research project reveals that 94 percent of young people access the [...] From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Journal of Interactive Instruction Development
The newest issue of JIID was just released: Journal of Interactive Instruction Development Volume 18 Number 1 Table of Contents Trading Spaces: Transferring Face-to-Face Courses to the Online Environment Kimberly LaPrairie, Janice Hinson, Ed.D. Practical Experiences in Producing Synchronous Online Sessions: A Case Study in Higher Education Shauna Schullo, Melissa Venable, Amy Hilbelink, Ann E. Barron A New Approach For Course Delivery At Missouri [...] From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Journal of Educational Enquiry
Volume 6, No 1, October 2005 Available: www.literacy.unisa.edu.au/JEE All papers are available free as PDF documents " see links below Papers What makes the boy from Oz good? Hugh Jackman and the pedagogy of excellence (18 pages) Robyn Quin, Lynne Hunt and Heather Sparrow Edith Cowan University Western Australia, Australia Direct from the source: the value of ‘think-aloud’ data in understanding learning (15 [...] From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
EdTech Posse Podcast #8 is on the air
Our latest instalment of the edtech posse conversations is online and available at http://edtechposse.ca/. We recorded this some time ago, so just like Rob mentioned, I can’t really remember what we talked about. Now, I know that doesn’t sound like a ringing advertisement, but I’ll listen to it soon–promise. From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
RefWorks and RefShare
Our university library system is making noises like it wants to support RefWorks and RefShare on campus, probably in favour of but not to the exclusion of EndNote and ProCite. This is welcome news to me, as I’ve become somewhat disenchanted with EndNote over time. The APA filters haven’t worked well for generations of [...] From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Flicks Festival Planning Session
Flicks Planning Session is tonight at 7pm Nutana Collegiate Library You may have received our invitation in the mail or email in the last 2 weeks. This is a reminder for those who responded about this evening’s session. Once again, we have invited EDUCATORS, ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, COMMUNITY GROUPS, SPONSORS, VOLUNTEERS, FUNDERS (all key stakeholders) [...] From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Position at Ithaca College
ONLINE LEARNING & CERTIFICATE AND PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR Job Description Ithaca College’s Office of Graduate Studies is seeking a program director to provide leadership in developing, planning, and implementing certification and professional programs, including developing and coordinating college-wide online learning opportunities to [...] From
Rick's Café Canadien on November 15, 2005 at 9:55 p.m..
Philosophy Bears and Fruit
From China Daily, Society must not shun philosophersA friend of mine once told me a joke: A job hunter, a philosophy major, went here, there and everywhere in his search for employment, but in vain. Having run out of options,... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Note to self
Every now and then I witter on about communities and the like. But what do I do about the community where I actually, physically live? Sod all, apart from vote every now and then. Used to do cricket coaching for... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
links for 2005-11-11
Uncool Cities - Prospect article by Joel Kotkin [via 3 quarks] "rather than address serious issues like housing, schools, transport, jobs and security, mayors and policy gurus from Berlin and London to Sydney and San Francisco have adopted what... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
links for 2005-11-14
EconoMeta » Blog Archive » Rankings: never a bell curve, not always a power law "If you consider ranked histograms, it From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Design Principles for Common Pool Resources
Interesting article on CPRs which I missed from Howard Rheingold. [Hat tip to Ross]. As Wikipedia has it, a common-pool resource is a natural or human made resource system the size or characteristics of which makes it costly, but not... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Web 0.0
... you know, where people used to physically travel to talk to someone else, face to face, and so they could see them smile, or spill food down their shirt, or hang out doing not very much but still... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Advice needed
Does anyone know of a wiki platform other than the open guides one that supports geo-location bells and whistles?... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Jargon
If you want to know what a philosophy degree's really like, then Johnnie's probably the man to tell you. I was particularly hopeless at the jargon. To win a philosophical argument with me, all you had to do was to... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
links for 2005-11-15
RSS 1.0 Modules: Taxonomy The taxonomy module is a RSS 1.0 module and a RDF application enabling the identification of topics covered by a RSS channel or item. (tags: RSS ontology rdf taxonomy) Peer Pressure » Your Attention, Please... From
Monkeymagic on November 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Having a project
So I've reviewed all the students' blogs and had conferences with each writer, and I have this observation: in most cases, the sooner the writer found a focus for the blog, the better the early writing become. A vote against a "just let them blog about anything" approach, then. The writers who had individual projects for themselves and their sites got moving much more quickly. From
Weblogs in Higher Education on November 15, 2005 at 9:53 p.m..
Problem solving
I ran across a useful explanation of the difference between answering questions in a textbook and solving problems. In
a review of a college textbook, Mary Masson, a chemist at University of Aberdeen, writes: In chemistry, we have tended in the past to think smuggly that our "examples" were "problems," but gradually it has... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on November 15, 2005 at 9:53 p.m..
A faux political blog
The folks producing the new Commander in Chief television series have launched a
faux political blog that follows the intrigues of the show. Because the show is not particularly complex yet, neither are these posts, unfortunately. It's hard to tell if the blog's comments come from viewers who are playing along or from the staff writing the blog, but it would be interesting if these were readers who joined in the act.... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on November 15, 2005 at 9:53 p.m..
What critical thinking might be
Can anyone reading this pass along a good definition of critical thinking linked to a particular academic field, or a good article about how critical thinking is thought of in a particular field? Thanks for any clues. From
Weblogs in Higher Education on November 15, 2005 at 9:53 p.m..
Walking down the wire
In 1967 I read a yellow glossy book for boys about the soldiers who were towed into combat in gliders in France in World War II. Characters I knew from TV's Combat show struggled through adversity to triumph in manly, good but somber spirits: it was war. In 1982 Gordon Henderson told me what it had been like huddled in the windowless body of a glider, buffeted by winds and the slam of anti-aircraft shells. Released from the towing plane, the pilot peered through the windscreen for an... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on November 15, 2005 at 9:53 p.m..
LORNet Conference - Pre-Conference Workshops
Note to self: The start of November is a bad time to launch a new system if you also want to attend conferences ;-) So while I have no time to be away right now, I am lucky to be spending this week in downtown Vancouver with a good portion of the academic world's best minds in the field of learning object networks research. I am not going to even try blogging the conference. My boat anchor of a laptop's wireless doesn't work (2 weeks and counting until brand-spanking new laptop arrives!) and I'm a lousy typist to begin with. Instead, her From
EdTechPost on November 15, 2005 at 7:50 p.m..
Back in the Box
Douglas Rushkoff on the need for businesses to
get back into the box to understand and leverage on their core offerings (as opposed to off shoring key competencies): Companies operating inside the box understand the value of that connection. More than any ad, it's your products, employees, and end users who promote on your behalf. Not because of any clever viral marketing campaign but because people actually like your products and want to belong to the culture that developed them. Paris Hardee&apo From
elearningpost on November 15, 2005 at 7:45 p.m..
[corante] Social software and the media
JD Lasica leads a panel on what the media will look like. On it are public radio guy Tony Kahn, RocketBoom's Amanda Congdon, and Lisa Stone the law blogger. Amanda: "We think our viewers are smart. That sets us apart from traditional media." About 20% of RB's stories come from user suggestions. Tony: "After 35 years in the media, I finally found this new medium [podcasting Morning Stories] that allows me to have fun." It began as a broadcdast. It still is: Once a week to 20,000 listeners. The podcdast is downloaded 300,000 times a month. Then it became a... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 5:49 p.m..
[corante] Social media and politics
Chris Nolan moderates a panel with Zephyr Teachout and Andrew Rasiej. Andrew says most politicians are technologic idiots. He says that in 2001 Sen. Diane Feinstein said that she didn't think the Senate should not be on the Internet until the pornography and pedophilia is gone. Sen. Chuck Schumer then asked Andrew: I get 10,000 emails a day. How can I make them stop. Zephyr talks about a college course she's teaching on politics and the Internet. She says she has her students studying Estonia, which is highly wired and has integrated governance and the Net. Z: Even if FEMA... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 5:49 p.m..
[corante] Social software: Lens or mirror?
Liz Lawley leadsa a discussion of issues around how we organize ourselves online. She points out the the hostility toward conversation built into the architecture of this room. She points out that a significant portion of the audience consists of people who see one another at conferences frequently, while the rest are not a part of this permanent floating conversation. (She's posted a bunch of quotes relevant to the topic on her blog.) Tina Sharkey of AOL says they try to avoid getting into the middle of the conversations. Joe Hurd formerly VP of BizDev at Friendster, asks if social... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 4:46 p.m..
En Europa, así somos
Desde el pasado viernes 11 de noviembre se puede visitar en A Coruña la muestra En Europa, así somos, que pretende transmitir de un modo informal y desenfadado la realidad de la actual Unión Europea. Se trata de una exposición itinerante que podrá visitarse durante más de seis meses en ... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on November 15, 2005 at 2:54 p.m..
Los hitos de Internet
Los Webby Awards de la Academia Internacional de Artes y Ciencias Digitales, que cada año elige a las mejores webs, ha publicado un ranking de los diez momentos más importantes en la historia de la Red que cambiaron el mundo: 1.- Auge y caída de las puntocom (1995-2001). 2.- Drudge Report ... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on November 15, 2005 at 2:54 p.m..
El cine ya no será lo que fue
Hace tiempo se decía que una película necesitaba dos años para ser escrita, dos meses para ser producida, dos horas para ser vista y dos minutos para ser olvidada. Bromas y asuntos de calidad cinematográfica aparte, la industria del cine está cambiando muy rápido. Lo cuento en dos minutos y ... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on November 15, 2005 at 2:54 p.m..
LAMS announces new version, LMS integrations, services and Moodle Partnership
LAMS today announced the release of a new version of the software - V1.0.2. Complementing this release are three LMS integrations, a suite of new services and support contracts from LAMS International, and the announcement that LAMS International has joined the Moodle Partner network to help support combined Moodle/LAMS installations. From
ScotFEICT on November 15, 2005 at 2:53 p.m..
The age of transition
I never knew it was called awkward age in English until today I looked for a translation of Russian perehodny vozrast. It doesn't mean the same! In Russian it means age of transition and usually used to talk about puberty and all things that come along - body changes, learning to group up, being rebellious, searching for one's identity... In my family it's also used as a metaphor when talking about someone who is hard to deal with because of changes in his or her life acknowledging (hoping :) that it's not permanent, recognising the pres From
Mathemagenic on November 15, 2005 at 2:53 p.m..
Connexions 'Rhaptos' Software Released
http://rhaptos.org/ The folks at
Connexions have released the software that powers that site as open source code, so presumably you can now run your own instance if you wanted. Connexions is neat in that it shows a working example of learning content as XML being re-aggregated and re-skinned. For me the challenge with its particular implementation is in how the content is created - the
Word-to-CXML convertor has got to be a great improvement ove From
EdTechPost on November 15, 2005 at 2:53 p.m..
Wikis in der Bildung
Was sind Wikis? Wie können sie in Bildungsszenarien eingesetzt werden? Können sich neue Betreuungs- und Prüfungsformen durch den Einsatz von Wikis ergeben? Das sind die Punkte, die in diesem kurzen Folienvortrag angesprochen werden. Besonders hilfreich: die Zusammenstellung der Unterschiede... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on November 15, 2005 at 2:52 p.m..
Informal, Connected, Learning 2.0
Gleich beginnt Harald Schmidt, so dass ich die letzten Minuten dieser Präsentation abkürze. Bis dahin war es eine Freude, den drei e-Learning-Gurus Jay Cross, Stephen Downes und George Siemens beim lauten Denken und Diskutieren zuzuhören. Es geht um "connectivism,... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on November 15, 2005 at 2:52 p.m..
Computer machen dumm?
Gabi Reinmann hat sich geärgert: Über Medienberichte, die da hießen: "Schlechte Noten für Computerspieler" (SZ) und "Je mehr am Computer, desto dümmer" (Spiegel Online). "Meiner Ansicht nach lenken Diskussionen nach dem Motto "Computer machen (schlau oder) dumm" ab von Missständen... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on November 15, 2005 at 2:52 p.m..
"Google Print wird nur Gewinner und keine Verlierer haben"
Am 3. November eröffnete Google seine Web-Bibliothek Google Print. Viele der Fragen, die das Projekt aufwirft, beruhen auf Missverständnissen oder fehlenden Informationen. Amerikanische Verleger haben Google vor Gericht gebracht; Bibliotheken sehen ihre Existenz gefährdet; andere beklagen das Projekt als weiteren... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on November 15, 2005 at 2:52 p.m..
Weltgipfel zur Internet-Regulierung
Diese Woche (16.-18. November) findet in Tunis die zweite Phase des World Summit on the Information Society statt. Erwartet werden rund 10.000 Delegierte (!) aus 120 Ländern. Das zentrale Thema HYPHEN bereits seit Wochen in allen Medien nachzulesen HYPHEN heißt... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on November 15, 2005 at 2:52 p.m..
Manipulate others for their own salvation
The totally destructive and constantly progressive nature of obligatory instruction will fulfill its ultimate logic unless we begin to liberate ourselves right now from our pedagogical hubris, our belief that man can do what God cannot, namely, manipulate others for their own salvation. [Ivan Illich in Deschooling Society, 1970, p.50] From
Seblogging News on November 15, 2005 at 2:51 p.m..
NPR Increases Podcast Content
NPR Podcasts of the late John Ciardi's pieces from the 80's...... NPR DOUBLES ITS PODCAST CONTENT TO 33 TITLES, LAUNCHING TODAY: The first use of NPR archival material in podcasting: the series "On Words with John Ciardi," a popular element of "Morning Edition" in the 1980s featuring the unique commentary of the poet and etymologist... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on November 15, 2005 at 2:51 p.m..
Save WAVM 91.7FM ...The Eyes and Ears of Tigertown
WAVM...The Eyes and Ears of Tigertown: Because of a bureaucratic loophole, a Massachusetts high school radio station with over 30 years of service to its community, is scheduled to loose its license because it wanted to upgrade it transmission capacity from 10 watts to 250 watts.... MARLENE DORTCH, SECRETARY FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 445 12TH STREET S.W WASHINGTON, DC 20554 You can also let the folks at Living Proof know how you feel... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on November 15, 2005 at 2:51 p.m..
Gates, Jobs, & the Zen aesthetic
Over at Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds writes about the two contrasting visual approaches employed by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs during presentations. The author compares the presentation styles and relates them to the Zen asthetic... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on November 15, 2005 at 2:51 p.m..
Artificial Intelligence Symposium
I participated in this symposium at UM last week. Some mind-blowing presentations about the future of man-machine interaction, genetic engineering, biotech, orthopedics, artificial vision, and more. A highlight was Hugh Herr from MIT talking about research on external and internal prosthetics. He included a study of a paraplegic man who had a Matrix-style plug-in to [...] From
Martindale Matrix on November 15, 2005 at 2:51 p.m..
Microsoft scans British Library - BBC
About 100,000 books in the British Library are going to be scanned and put online by software giant Microsoft. The books, which are out of copyright, will be digitised from 2006 and put online as part of Microsoft's book search service next year. Microso From
Techno-News Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
History's Worst Software Bugs - Simson Garfinkel, Wired
Last month automaker Toyota announced a recall of 160,000 of its Prius hybrid vehicles following reports of vehicle warning lights illuminating for no reason, and cars' gasoline engines stalling unexpectedly. But unlike the large-scale auto recalls of yea From
Techno-News Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
Blog-Spotting With IBM - Colin C. Haley, Internet News
Corporate leaders who ignore what bloggers are saying about them and their businesses could have serious consequences. IBM today introduced new software that monitors and analyzes blogs, wikis, news feeds, consumer review sites, newsgroups and other comm From
Techno-News Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
Gates Warns of 'Sea Change' in Memo - ALLISON LINN, AP
The technology industry shift's to Internet-based software and services represents a massive and disruptive "sea change," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates wrote to top-level executives in a memo aimed at rallying his troops against the new competitive th From
Techno-News Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
UN slates online costs for poor - BBC
The cost of fast net access and linking up to the net's global infrastructure hits poorer nations much harder than developed countries, says a UN body. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said this meant that nations lacked in e-commerce. From
Techno-News Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
Super-fast broadband hits the UK - BBC
Internet service provider UK Online has become the first to offer super-fast broadband across the UK. ADSL2+ technology promises speeds of up to 22Mbps (megabits per second), although many may not get close to these speeds. The connection speed depends From
Techno-News Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
Friendster publications (danah boyd)
Various folks have been asking me about my Friendster publications and i thought i’d do a simple round-up for anyone who is trying to learn about Friendster. Below are directly relevant papers and their abstracts (or a brief excerpt); full... From
Corante: Social Software on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
AIGA/AEA Podcast II: a Man called Meyer
AIGA, the professional association for design, presents "Talking With Eric Meyer: An Event Apart Podcast #02." Each week leading up to An Event Apart in December 2005, AIGA talks with the founders about what attendees can expect from theconference. This week, AIGA's Liz Danzico and AEA's Eric Meyer discuss the comparison between code and chisels, and why designers need to care about what's under the hood. From
Jeffrey Zeldman Presents: The Daily Report on November 15, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
Back in high school
I'm keynoting a teacher's conference in Texas. It's being held in Irving, outside of Dallas, at the Academy of Irving, the local technology-focused public high school. It's open and light. (My own high school, progressive though it was, instilled in me a lifelong fear of cinderblock.) And there's wifi! My host told me on the drive from the hotel that it's primarily a poor district, but this school does not feel that way. Good priorities. The school library is modest but inviting. The books are shelved according to Dewey but the online catalog — there is no p From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Welcome to the long tail, Paul
IndependentSources runs a chart of Paul Krugman citations now that he's been moved behind the New York Times pay wall. It is what diminishing influence looks like. The post also points to a Kaus post that wonders if the NY Times would have taken an offer of $6.1 million — what it's made in subscription fees — to diminish its influence. [Tags: media]... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Irving education meeting
At the Irving Independent School District Symposium, 200 educators are meeting to talk about their craft and their charge. Dr. Marie Morris, Assistant Superintendent, welcomes us by giving some of the demographics of the school: almost 50% Latino, 17% white, 13% African-American... The school has 450 kids from New Orleans. "We celebrate that diversity," she says, and teachers who do not believe that all students can learn are not welcome. Robbin Wall, the school's principal, welcomes us. The school is 5 years old. Every student has a laptop. (Among the speakers today — via video  From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Newspapers and blogs
Will Bunch recommends this Bob Baker post. Jay Rosen recommends this one by Charles Cooper. I recommend both articles and both recommenders. [Tags: media]... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Go, Larry, Go!
Lessig on why the argument against Google Print is actually an argument against the internet's greatest value. [Tags: LawrenceLessig GooglePrint google DigitalRights]... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Etch a Sketching
It'll be easier for you to view this than for me to explain it. All I'll say is that it'll put your (where "your"="my")drawing abilities in perspective. (Caution: Transient line art nudity)... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Sony Eula practically demands we become pirates
This EFF.org article by Fred von Lohmann looks at the end user license that comes with Sony CD's. The EULA is 3,000 words long and contains such tight restrictions that almost any normal use of the CD violates the EULA. [Tags: eff DigitalRights sony]... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
To Emma Love Ben
Here's a short short made by our daughter and her friends, all Emerson College students, as an entry in a Halloween festival. I love it, but I don't want to say anything about so you can see it fresh. [Tags: LeahWeinberger movies halloween EmersonCollege]... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Dems raising less than Republicans, possibly because the Dems are spineless
The Washington Post reports that that the Democrats are seriously trailing the Republicans in the fund-raising race, and Howard Dean is being blamed for it. Maybe if the Democratic Party sounded more like Candidate Dean, they'd raise more money, especially among the small donors. For example: What is the Democratic Party's position on the war in Iraq? Anybody know? I went to the party's site to find out. Holy crap, there are four major headings on the page: the blog, national, local and communities (= interest groups). The biggest issue in the country is the war in Iraq and it.. From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Me in the Globe about Google Print and book metadata
This short piece in the Boston Globe Ideas section started out as an article about the Dewey Decimal system in the digital age, with Google Print as a hook. But the hook ate the fish. [Tags: EverythingIsMiscellaneous google GooglePrint metadata taxonomy] Glenn Fleishman has a fascinating post about this very issue today. What a coincidence! The question "What is a book?" just gets harder and harder the more you look at it. I'd interviewed a bunch of folks on this topic for the Globe piece, but it all got cut as my allotted length went from 1200 words to 750... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Artificial buzz
Scott Kirsner has a terrific column on whether and when buzz marketing goes over the line. To me the principle is straightforward: Intentionally giving people extrinsic reasons to hawk your products frays the trust that enables conversation to proceed. It's worse if the hawkers don't disclose their extrinsic motivations, but even when they do, this type of buzz marketing makes life just a little bit worse. Easy to say, but unfortunately hard to apply, as is the case with so many high and mighty principles... [Tags: marketing BuzzMarketing]... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Two points that didn't fit into The Globe
Here are two points that I had to remove from my piece in the Sunday Boston Globe due to space constraints. People have sent me email about both. First, books are way complex. What is Hamlet? Any book of the play? The Signet edition? A reprint of the Signet edition? The Signet edition with a new preface? With errata corrected? The Signet large print edition? The German translation? The original manuscript? Hamlet in the one-volume Collected Works? This matters because when you're looking for a copy of Hamlet, you're acting as if that were unambiguous when in fact there are... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Go Jimmy go!
Jimmy Carter, our greatest ex-president, on what's gone wrong. (Thanks to DC Stultz for the pointer.) The opening: In recent years, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican. These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights. Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs wit From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Corante Social Software Architecture conf - But mainly, my laptop is broken
I'm at a conference sponsored by Corante and hosted by Berkman, but I dropped my laptop and it is totally hosed. I did this about an hour before I was to present the opening talk. So I did it without my slides. But the bigger issue is that my laptop is hosed. It boots, but the System process is running 99% of the time. Also, the usb ports are dead and the IBM recovery softrware doesn't load. This has me so upset that I'm not able to live blog. (I'm typing this on a friend's laptop. Thanks, Jeanne.) The irc... From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
[corante] Is business ready for social software
Stowe Boyd leads a discussion on what has to happen for business to embrace social software. What has to change? On the panel are Seth Goldstein and Kaliya Hamlin. It is an open discussion. Because my head is 75% focused on my !@#$% broken laptop. Interesting discussion. (Most of the people in the audience raise their hands when asked if they've tagged something at del.icio.us in the past week.) There is not agreement whether social software will change anything significant about business culture and operations. Some say that businesses will co-opt social software; others say that it will From
Joho the Blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
SuprGlu
Much blogged about elsewhere,
suprglu is a tool that allows you to bring a whole bunch of rss feeds onto the same webpage, and the educational potential of it is pretty clear. Aggregate all of a students production in one page. Bring a bunch of differerent search feeds together for easy viewing Create a class site that aggregates whatever content feeds you're providing for students (See
Dave's detail on this.) Create a collaborative project site Bring teacher lesson plans or From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
A Model for Preservice Ed Tech
Darren Kuroptawa has been doing some collaboration with a preservice teacher in Alabama, (as well as some amazing work in his classroom) and
she posts at length about the curriculum she's built for her class. It's the kind of experience every new classroom teacher needs to have. I want these "soon to be teachers" to make an informed choice as to if and why they should embrace these concepts-- not to just ta From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
A Model for Professional Development
I've just recently tapped into the
"Web and Education" discussion group at Yahoo Groups and at first blush it looks like a pretty robust discussion about many of the technologies I'm interested in. I'm wondering why it took me so long to find it. (Maybe a case of blog blinders?) Anyway, the good news is it has an RSS feed, now duly added to my
Bloglines account (and I was trying to cut down...), and it seems to have a weekly preview of all the amazing professional development an educato From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Schoolsafe Blogging
The good news is that it seems like there's a new entry into the safer student blogging arena every couple of weeks these days.
David Warlick's Blogmeister (free) is gaining quite a following, and the well-established ePals gang has just released its very robust
SchoolBlog software (not free.) And I've been sworn to secrecy about a couple of other entrants soon to be coming forth that I think will take classroom blogging to an even higher level. All in all, there ought to be qu From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
"I Love My Tablet!"
This week, our Educational Technology Committee will make a recommendation on what route to take regarding the classroom model pilot we've been running here the last two months. For those that may not have caught my previous posts about this, our pilot model is a teacher Tablet PC, wireless network/Internet connection, and a wireless, ceiling mounted projector with screen. In preparation for the meeting, we've been collecting the responses from a survey of our pilot teachers, reflections the superviors at our school, and the report of an independent researcher we had come in to obser From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Now That's Committment
David Weinberger blogged the Irving Independent School District Symposium in Texas and included this little eye-opener: Robbin Wall, the school's principal, welcomes us. The school is 5 years old. Every student has a laptop... Principal Wall says that this school is focused on training professionals; it offers no extra-curricular activities. Whoa! Did he say NO extra curricular activities? From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Blummy and Information Literacy
If you want a nifty little tool for teaching basic information literacy in these days of the Read/Write Web, go to
Blummy, create a bookmarklet with the links outlined below, and put it on every computer in your school. Why? Because not only can you replicate much of
Alan's multi-post bookmarklet (which I'm still keeping, btw,) but you can also add links that will (using my homepage as an example): automatically look up
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Student Teachers
One of the ideas that I try to really drive home when I'm out blogvangelizing (Read/Write Webvangelizing?) is that a) since most of our kids are coming to these tools with arms open, and b) since the ability to produce content is getting easier and easier, and c) finally, since it's so much easier to publish the content we create, unlimited opportunities now exist for our students to become teachers in a real way. Case in point,
Clarence Fisher's students who are making videos about math. I From
weblogged News on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Will the CMS market crystalise rather than consolidate?
As Tony Byrne has pointed out on a number of occasions, the start of every new year sees the prediction that the "CMS marketplace will consolidate". In this view, some vendors will go bust, while others will merge together into... From
Column Two on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Danish user-centred design
Today I visited the Dansk Design Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Plenty of fun things to see, but the one thing that really jumped out at me was the widespread and comfortable use of "designing with users" and "user-centred design" in... From
Column Two on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
San Jose Happy Hour
Well, I arrived in the US last night. I'm looking forward to the KMWorld & Intranets conference, including running my two half-day workshops today. Since this is my first time to the US, I thought it would be nice to... From
Column Two on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Does it make the planes fly?
A few weeks ago, I participated in an intranet conference in Sydney. One of the speakers was Cushla Dawson from Air New Zealand, and she talked about a question that she was often asked within Air NZ regarding the intranet:... From
Column Two on November 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
Mobile photo blogging
I recently switched to a news mobile phone with
SymbianOS. Nothing spectacular. It was cheap as I was extending my contract. It is a Nokia 3230. The user interface really has serious issues (which I think is amazing for a multi-million dollar company like Nokia that does not sell phones only by their external look). I am not so much into mobile phones and I am not willing to spend lot's of money to be an early adopter. I am more "early mainstream" in this.
From owrede_log on November 15, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..
Featured blog
Yesterday this weblog (»details of a global brain«) was
featured on »The Main Quad« - a private blog that is "promoting viewpoints and topics that are international, multicultural, multi and interdisciplinary, and all over the political spectrum" (with a focus on academic blogs). I am pleased that I appear to be the first non-native English speaking blogger in their directory and I appreciate the kind words of editor Jennifer Chernick. From
owrede_log on November 15, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..
Creating informed consumers
David Weinberger
demonstrates, with several examples, how businesses fail to provide useful content for their website readers. For example, here's his observation on the Tic Tac site: In addition, on the home page are links for History, What’s New, What’s in Season, What’s Shakin’ and Tic Tac Silvers. The History reveals one tick on the Tic Tac time line for each decade. For example, did you know that in the 2000s Tic Tacs From
elearningpost on November 15, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..
What are we doing when we look away during a conversation?
Cognitive daily has an
answer: We get a great deal of information by looking at faces, and this information places a significant load on our cognitive systems. Perhaps, when we’re asked a difficult question and need to concentrate, looking away from a face helps us focus on the cognitive demands of the question. From
elearningpost on November 15, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..
How “gut feelings” influence memory
Another good article by Cognitive Daily, this time is all about “gut feelings”. Here's how I understand it: we are likely to pick up hard memory under any context (e.g we can identify our wife under different contexts), but when the memory is soft or fuzzy then we resort to gut feelings which is nothing but weak stimuli coming from the context of use. So for example, we are more likely to pick out an old classmate at a reunion dinner than at the shopping mall, simply because there are some subtle cues coming from the reunion hall From
elearningpost on November 15, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..
Will Sidekick III Gain an EDGE?
Rumors swirl about upcoming gadget's capabilities. Plus: Who doesn't need a virtual-reality hamster wheel? From the Wired News blog Gear Factor. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Narrowing the Digital Divide
A U.N. summit in Tunisia will look at ways to extend technology to the world's poor. An African initiative to use high-speed internet to treat AIDS inspires those trying to figure out how to bridge the gap. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Egg Ethics Spark Stem-Cell Rift
A South Korean scientist defends the ethics of his egg donations, despite rumors to the contrary and the decision by a top U.S. researcher to halt his 20-month collaboration with the stem-cell pioneer. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Profits May Rock Podcasting World
Business services dominate the displays at the Portable Media Expo and Podcasting Conference, as conventioneers ponder the implications for their beloved, home-grown medium. Steve Friess reports from Ontario, California. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Truckers Choose Hydrogen Power
Fuel cells are so last year. A bolt-on, hydrogen-burning engine add-on is catching on among truckers. It saves tons of money, cuts pollution and allows for more-powerful acceleration. By Stephen Leahy. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Making the Red Planet Green
Scientists are figuring out how to grow Earth plants on Mars. It's the first step toward supporting humans on the planet, but not everyone is keen on the idea. By Rachel Metz. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
The Science Behind Acts of God
Author Simon Winchester discusses a disastrous year, his new book on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and potential future catastrophes. Wired News interview by Jeff MacIntyre. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Dr. Evil's Lair Evolves
Thanks to associations with technological authoritarianism, modernism earns a bad rap. But look around: The future turned out worse than the modernists predicted. Commentary by Momus. From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Huge Solar Plants Bloom in Desert
Giant, power-generating farms will soon sprout in California, using large solar dishes and a 200-year-old engine design. They may finally make solar a viable alternative to coal and gas plants. By Will Wade.Plus: Truckers Choose Hydrogen Power From
Wired News on November 15, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Free Book Contest
More excerpts on the way this weekend, as promised. In the meantime,
Fortune Innovation Forum is sponsoring a contest to give away some copies of Get Back in the Box. Plus, there's a few exclusive excerpts from the book up there, too. From
rushkoff.blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Get Back in the Box
Thought Virus #2:
Open Source and the Authorship Society
Time for a new excerpt from the book. I've decided to base my choice of excerpt on the conversation that developed over the last one. So here's a natural extension of the idea that the people we used to call "customers" are now in the lead, and should be welcomed into the process of innovation as equals.In the book, this section is followed by some examples of businesses inviting participation - from Adobe inviting users to create plugins via their "Studio Exchange" website, to John Fleuvog soliciting shoe designs from his customers. Those who are confident in their ow From
rushkoff.blog on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Hong Kong flat duck
One of the great things about living in New York City is the access and exposure to so many varied cultures and cuisines. Unfortunately that means that upon traveling abroad, one's first reaction to walking the streets of Hong Kong and its markets is to turn to one's traveling companion and exclaim, "Hmm, this is a lot like Chinatown." Except in NYC Ch From
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Out to Hong Kong's outlying islands
Today we took the ferry to Cheung Chau, "a picturesque island with a waterfront that bustles with activity." Only a thirty minute fast ferry ride from Central, Cheung Chau was indeed picturesque when we arrived. Fishing boats were moored along the water's edge. School children walked through the streets in their school uniforms. An old woman with a large From
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Battle hairy crab
Or, Why I Won't Ever Try and Emulate R.W. Apple Again... In preparation for this trip to Asia, I read various food recommendations over at the New York Times, including an article by Nina Simonds entitled
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Flickr cooking
My friend Leslie's done a great thing with Flickr that I haven't seen before: she's created a little cookbook for a specific meal. She's got a
vegetarian dinner with recipes. It's a set of photos for, "stuffed eggplant and apple cherry crisp, including step by step instructions and recipes. (see last two photos for dessert recipe)." You click your way through the photostream as you prepare the meal. Genius! I love this idea, especially as a way to communicate basic From
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Delicious portable beverage drinking
Those who know me in real life know that I don't drink much beyond water, coffee with soy milk, and wine. OK, and some juice (orange or V8) in the morning. But I usually stick to water throughout the day because I don't like all the sugary drinks we have in the US everywhere, like sodas, or juice drinks like Sobe that are still full of sugar. So yay! for Hong Kong, where I've found two yummy drinks while out and about to accompany my water guzzling.
From megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Mango mania ensues
After yesterday morning's post, I went on a mango splurge day, or as I'll forever remember it, "Day of Five Mango Happiness" (to give it a phony Chinese translation spin). First I had a huge plate of mangos for breakfast. Then at lunch we all shared two mango desserts (more on that meal to come). Then while walking around Soho we stopped at a mishmash snack stand -- mishmash because in addition to the Nepalese dumplings we had, they offered fish and chips, hamburgers, pizzas, and assorted other things -- where I had a mango lassi. Finally atop
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
The joy of the morning swim
The hotel we're staying at in Kowloon has a lovely pool on its roof with views across the harbor to Hong Kong. And for whatever jet-lag-related reason I don't understand, we've been waking up around 6:30 AM every morning. So we've taken to heading to the pool for a nice morning swim. And it's lovely! I love swimming, and there's som From
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Adios Hong Kong
We're off tomorrow morning for Bangkok so two parting photos of buddhas for you from Hong Kong until I post again. First, from yesterday's walk along Hollywood Road in Hong Kong:
Then a self-portrait from today's trip to Lantau Island to visit the Po Lin Monastery and its awesome Big Buddha:
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Learning to cook like a local
Though it was our first day in Bangkok, we dove right into the action by heading to the
Baipai Cooking School for a half-day of Thai cooking classes. A friend of Jason's from Minneapolis recommended Baipai and I whole-heartedly second her recommendation! It was simply a wonderful experience. As you can see on their web site, they offer five different schedules. I picked today because it featured my favorite Thai dish (at least favorite Thai dish eaten in America): fish cakes, or tod man pla, plus the ol From
megnut on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
Population Explosion!
ClickZ Stats has updated its list of the global online populations, with some new figures for the number of Active Internet Users. From
ClickZ Stats on November 15, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..